Pune couple returns home after 17 days in hospital quarantine
A Pune couple, who are patient zero in Maharashtra for the Sars-cov-2 infection caused by Covid-19 (coronavirus), returned home on Wednesday after 17 days of hospitalisation, to a rousing welcome from members of their residential society.
After spending 17 days at Pune’s Naidu hospital, from March 8 onwards, the husband and wife, have now had both their second tests return negative for the infection from the National Institute of Virology (NIV). The couple spent 14 days in incubation, followed by two swab sample tests in a span on 24 hours to get proper clearance to be discharged.
The couple returned from a Dubai tour on March 1 and were declared Covid-19 positive on March 6.
The couple were accompanied by 40 persons on the Dubai trip and multiple cases across the state were detected from members of the same travelling party.
“Very pleasant,” is how the husband describes his stay at the hospital, adding, “When we returned from Dubai I did feel a bit of fatigue and I thought it was normal. I visited my family doctor and he gave me an antibiotic and asked me to rest. I felt good for two days and then I went to office, but again, started feeling cold and got a high temperature. I went to my doctor and the second time he asked me to visit Naidu hospital for a swab test. Both, me and my wife, went to the hospital and the doctors there asked us to get admitted till the test results came back.”
“When the test results came we were shocked, especially my wife, because she did not have any symptoms; not even during our wait at the hospital.”
The husband further added that initially when their names and numbers went viral, they did receive calls from anonymous numbers abusing them for their foreign trip.
He said, “People would say, ‘you guys went to a foreign country and because of you the city is under curfew’? After most of our fellow travellers tested negative, we now feel relieved. We have asked our relatives not to meet us till April 15, at least.”
The couple, discharged from hospital, were met with bouquets and loud cheers, accompanied by free groceries, from neighbours in their housing society.
AJIT PAWAR EXPRESSES HAPPINESS
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar expressed happiness over a couple in Pune being discharged from hospital following their full recovery from coronavirus infection.
Pawar also thanked the doctors at Pune’s Naidu hospital where the couple was admitted.
“They were diagnosed as positive for coronavirus on the day of Holi and cured on Gudi Padwa (the Maharashtrian New Year),” he noted.
Pune did not record any positive case on Wednesday.